New study to delay Ichetucknee management plan vote

Sunday

Aug 13, 2017 at 6:16 PMAug 14, 2017 at 7:12 AM

Cindy Swirko @CindySwirko

A proposed Ichetucknee Springs State Park management plan that was set to be voted on Friday has been put on hold so a more in-depth study of the park, including its aquatic vegetation, wildlife, water quality and other features, can be done.

Leaders of the Ichetucknee Alliance, a river protection watchdog group, said the delay is a positive move and believe a letter the group wrote regarding the plan had an impact.

The letter recommended that the park ban tubing on the upper third of the river while still allowing kayaking and paddleboarding. The group favors continued tubing on the lower two-thirds of the river.

Ichetucknee Alliance members believe tubers are killing the aquatic grass that is crucial to fish and other wildlife in the upper river.

Advisory board member Jim Stevenson, Florida State Park chief naturalist from 1969 to 1989 and retired Department of Environmental Protection senior biologist, said a new study will provide more information about the health of the park.

“It will cause a more thorough review, and that’s good,” Stevenson said. “They are going to have a land-management review of the park. That team will do an analysis of the management and condition of the park.”

Once that report is done, DEP’s Acquisition and Restoration Council will reschedule a vote on the plan, said DEP spokesman Jason Mahon. He added the timing will depend on whether changes are made to the draft plan.

The proposed plan recommends an evaluation of the impact of visitor use on the river system and to make changes as needed. It acknowledges that damage is occurring in the northern part of the river and recommends an evaluation of the situation.

Part of the evaluation would include research on the carrying capacity of the river — the volume of people that the river can handle without damaging it.

By doing that, heavy use can be directed to parts of the river that are less sensitive to human use.

“There is ample evidence, however, that swimming and tubing activities continue to cause some negative impacts to the springs and spring runs, particularly in the upper reaches of the river,” the report states. “Although much of the submerged aquatic vegetation that is trampled or uprooted during the summer months seems to regenerate reasonably well during the offseason, aquatic plant beds located in shallow water areas do not fare as well.”

The lack of complete recovery, the report states, imperils the long-term health of the system’s ecology and could lead to the complete disappearance of some species.

Ichetucknee Alliance President John Jopling said he initially had some qualms about the recommended ban on upper-river tubing but decided to support it because of the evidence of damage.

The river has less flow now and is more shallow. That leads to damaged or destroyed vegetation, though increased nitrates in groundwater coming out of the springs has harmed the plants as well.

Without the vegetation, aquatic wildlife suffers.

“The fact is the aquatic life in the upper river has been virtually wiped out. Some of it is wiped out by effects that have nothing to do with tubing — it has so much algae filaments it practically makes me cry when I take a kayak out,” Jopling said. “But the main issue is, people will get out of their tubes. They walk on the bottom and drag their feet. It has just decimated the plant life of the upper river. We felt that to restore that, it is a reasonable trade-off.”

Jopling stressed that under the Alliance’s recommendation, the number of people who can tube won’t be reduced but they will have to launch lower on the river.

The park has been criticized by tube vendors outside the park for allowing the company that runs park concessions to begin renting tubes inside the park, cutting into the business of the mom-and-pop vendors. The company, Cape Leisure, has created a general store at the north entrance that includes tubes and kayaks for rent.

Mahon said DEP is required every five years to do a land-management review of parks. The team will be at the park in about a week.

Members will include representatives of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Florida Division of Parks and Recreation, the Florida Forest Service and the Suwannee River Water Management District. The team also will include a private land manager and a resident who is appointed by the Columbia County Commission.

The team’s report should be completed by October. The draft plan could be brought to a vote in December, if there are no changes.

“If we are going to make significant changes to the draft management plan, we will bring it back to the public for a hearing,” Mahon said, adding that a vote would be held after that.

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